Masks In South Brunswick Schools: Board To Make Decision Soon

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — At the recently held Board of Education (BOE) meeting in South Brunswick, members held a robust discussion on the school mask mandate, which is expected to be dropped statewide effective March 7.

Overall, Board members favored an optional mask mandate policy but decided there were too many “moving parts” to consider before coming up with guidelines.

During the meeting, Superintendent Scott Feder pointed out that according to Federal mandates, masks are still required in a transportation setting. As of now, New Jersey students will still have to mask up on school buses even after March 7.

The choice to mask or not inside the school building lies with the BOE, but when it comes to Federal law, the Board does not have a choice.

Feder also pointed out that contact tracing and quarantines are linked and that he was hoping the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Health (DOH) will come up with guidance for schools soon. Read More: 'Not So Simple': South Brunswick Superintendent On Mask Mandate

“If you remove masks, contact tracing becomes a major problem,” Feder said. “Kids will have to be home for a longer period (if unmasked and identified as close contact) - that has to be addressed.”

The Superintendent had earlier told Patch that "nothing works in isolation" and that the DOE has to take the time and devote the resources to truly understanding the impact on schools and the delivery of instruction.

Feder said that if this issue won't be addressed by the DOE closer to March. 7, then the BOE will get a recommendation from him.

BOE member Barry Nathanson said he supported the optional mask mandate. "The Township has removed the mask mandate. In fact, the governor said he is going to talk to the state health department and come up with guidelines. The fair thing for the community is to allow parents to make the decision,” Nathanson said. The board member said the issue still “hasn’t played out in the state” since Gov. Phil Murphy made the announcement. He suggested to wait-and-watch and then come up with a decision.

Board member Smitha Raj too supported the optional mask mandate saying her reason for doing so was because scientists have now said cloth masks are not very effective. "The only option is the N95 masks and they are expensive. Going by that logic, why mandate the cloth mask that doesn’t work?” she asked. "Giving the community the option is a good idea,” she said.

Lisa Rodgers said she was all for getting rid of the mask, but wanted to do so with science guiding the decision. Rodgers said she was concerned about the date, March 7, and wondered what was the science behind that date. "My concern is March 7 is still winter. We don’t have the opportunity for kids and their families to be outside fully or to open windows,” she said.

Deepa Karthik too favored the optional mask policy but asked Board members to consider complications that could arise for children who are immunocompromised. Karthik said she was also concerned about “softer aspects” of the optional choice and wondered if it could impact bullying and other discriminatory acts against children who opted to be masked.

Feder told the Board that hopefully by March. 3 they would have everything they need to come up with a decision and update the community. "A lot will happen between now and Feb. 24,” he said.

Statewide, it's not yet clear what prompted Murphy to put a date on the end of the mask mandate.

Murphy’s decision has resulted in debates and strange behavior at school board meetings across the state, including mask protestors ordering pizzas in the middle of a Westfield meeting last week.

Around North Jersey, districts have given varied responses, but several, like Jersey City and Maplewood, said they want to keep an eye on the data before making a decision. East Brunswick meanwhile has decided to go for the mask optional policy.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 data in South Brunswick schools are currently trending in the right direction. During the first week of January, the school district reported 257 positive COVID-19 cases among staff and students. Last week the number was down to 35.

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